Thursday, February 23, 2012

Beowulf II

"The plot isn't believable -- who can fight a monster under water for so long?"

"A bunch of neanderthals saw monsters, and the only one with some symmetry in its brain decided to write something that would annoy students for all eternity."

"seriously people! just because a book is old does not mean it is any good! this poem is annoying, unrealistic, and poorly written!"

"There isn't an author because no one wanted to claim responsibility for this heaping pile of refuse."

"I hated this story everytime I read it!!! Then I majored in English!"

WHAT A FUCKING SURPRISE

"We read this because it's old. No other reason."

"no one should ever read this."

"I thought it was a rather silly. I had no sympathy whatsoever for the protagonist and titular character, Beowulf. During the climactic battle between Beowulf and the dragon, I found myself rooting for the dragon,(which I actually do a lot, incidentally)"

"Where do I start? The zealot kings and their concubines are a perfect example of living a life of sin. Their bigotry toward woman disgust me. The mead halls were full of sin and perdition thus it was damned for years and terrorized with such a demon as Grendel."

"Beowulf is about a time when fighting monsters and slaying dragons was what gave life meaning."

"Yes, I know, it's taken me a shamefully long time to get around to something that every medievalist should know by heart, etc. In my defense, I'm not an Anglo-Saxonist—I'm a common-or-garden High Medievalist."

SPECIALIZED IGNORANCE: STILL IGNORANCE

"Beowulf is an epic poem who till this day doesn’t have a known author. It’s based on made up character, Beowulf."

"I didn't, for the most part, actually read this book. But, like many books I've had to read for classes, it was really confusing and hard to understand. My teacher explains it enough during class that just reading a summary on sparknotes was enough for me. I don't think I would have liked it even if I had read it better because of the fact that nothing happens...there was no plot or anything. Not really worth reading, if you ask me."

"Essentially a collection of fairly standard tribal mythologies passed down orally until a poet wrote them down in clunky, biblical-style verse. Not a very enjoyable read. The popular belief that something must be good if it's old (and great if it's especially old) has always amused me. Like a number of 'classic' films and ancient plays, Beowulf simply doesn't have much to offer beyond its admittedly impressive age."